Soon to hit the public beta environment (PBE), Ekko is a streetwise kid from Zaun with a unique talent for rewinding time to get himself out of trouble.

As a skirmishing assassin, Ekko has an interesting list of abilities:

Passive: Z-Drive Resonance - Anytime Ekko hits a target three times with skills or attacks, this ability triggers, dealing extra damage and slowing his opponent. If the opponent is an enemy champion, Ekko also gets a powerful increase to his movement speed.

Q: Timewinder - Ekko possesses a device he can throw in a given direction, dealing damage to all enemies in its path. Once it has achieved its maximum distance or it hits an enemy champion, it creates an expanded field that slows both enemies and neutral units caught within it. When the field contracts again, the device rushes back to Ekko, once again dealing damage to enemies on the way.

W: Parallel Convergence - on the passive side of this ability, Ekko's basic attacks deal extra damage to targets already low on health. On the active side, Ekko creates a rift in time; this, in turn creates an alternate reality copy of him. This copy hurls an expanding device, creating a slowing sphere. If Ekko enters this, the device detonates, shielding Ekko while stunning any enemies caught inside.

E: Phase Dive - This ability lets Ekko dash a fixed distance, at the end of which he acquires a huge increase on the range of his next basic attack; he blinks to his target, applying on-hit spell affects and dealing damage.

R: Chronobreak - Ekko's ultimate epitomizes the theme of this new champion. He rewinds time and is briefly invulnerable and untargetable; he then reappears where he last was with some of his health recovered, and does massive damage to nearby foes.

This streetwise kid from Zaun knows something his foes don't - time is on his side.

According to Rioter gypsylord, Ekko is built to make players feel not just skilled, but smart through predictive gameplay. His time-related abilities should add spice to the game for players who can attempt to predict the outcome of each encounter - "call the shot and right and you get a reward."

He shines brightest as a skirmisher, so he's built more for utility than for strength. He's also not as resilient as some other champions, so more cunning play is required to keep him up and running.

Can't wait to play Ekko? What ability really gets your blood pumping to jump back into League of Legends? Talk about it in the comments!

I'm really loving Riot's work recently, the slower-but-high-quality champ releases are excellent and I love the focus on skill-based positioning and timing. They're really killing it on the development front!